Although, as will appear, the present invention has application in different fields, one exemplary use that is helpful in understanding the invention is in restaurants. Currently, many restaurants employ a coaster/paging device for indicating to a customer or patron that his or her table is ready. The coaster device is issued to the customer when the customer enters the restaurant and is taken by the customer to a waiting area in the restaurant such as a lounge area or a bar. Typically, the coaster device is caused to light up (e.g., one or more lights are remotely activated by restaurant personnel so as to blink on and off/vibrate), when a table is ready, thereby alerting the customer. While this paging technique can be effective, the use of coaster devices requires a substantial investment in the devices themselves, and the range provided is limited, i.e., the customer must stay close to eating area and cannot, e.g., leave the restaurant.
The range limitation can be a problem for the restaurant when there is a long wait for a table in that the customer may simply prefer not to sit around and wait for a table, and thus simply may go to a different restaurant. On the other hand, an approach wherein the customer would leave the restaurant and simply call in periodically to ascertain the availability of a table is essentially unworkable for a number of reasons. These reasons include the inconvenience for both the customer and the restaurant (e.g., continually taking such calls and checking on the tables could be quite time consuming for a large and/or busy restaurant). Moreover, once the customer leaves the restaurant, there would be no guarantee that he or she would call back in so that it would be difficult for the restaurant to hold a table.
Another concern with paging in general is the premium placed by some restaurants on maintaining a relatively quiet ambiance in various areas of the restaurant including the eating area and, as a corollary, on the courteous use of mobile telephones in these areas so as not to disturb other diners. Given these concerns, it is preferable that any paging system of the type discussed above not add to these problems.